Heathers Limited Edition Locker DVD/Blu-ray SetReview

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The '80s dark comedy gets repackaged with some goodies for your locker, and a locker.

By Cindy White

Heathers tells the story of Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), a student at Sherwood, Ohio's Westerburg High. Veronica has managed to become part of "the most powerful clique in school," a group of beautiful girls who all share the same first name… and no, it's not Veronica. Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) is their leader, and she is a force to be reckoned with, reveling in her status and ready to mock and tear others down at a moment's notice.

Having made it in the high school social status sense, Veronica has come to a major realization – she "doesn't really like her friends." In fact, she outright hates the toxic Heather Chandler, and at a college party they attend together, the two finally have it out. At the same time, Veronica meets the mysterious new kid in town -- Jason "J.D." Dean, a black-trench-coat wearing, motorcycle-riding loner, who clearly loathes the Heathers, but is very attracted to Veronica. And J.D. has some very specific ideas on how to deal with bullies and jerks at Westerburg, involving poison, guns and bombs.

The quality of the standard-definition disc hasn't changed from the 20th Anniversary High School Reunion Edition, released this summer.Heathers was a very low-budget movie and in fact was one of the last films released by New World Pictures. Supposedly this new DVD is remastered, but comparing it to the last DVD from 2001, it's hard to see any notable differences. Overall, the quality is fine, but there's still an overall haziness (beyond the filmmakers intent in some sequences) to the transfer and the colors are a bit washed out.

As for the Blu-ray, don't be fooled by the poor quality of the scenes in the menu screen, the film actually looks a lot better. But that's not saying much. The same problem with the original source material plagues the high-definition version, just to a lesser degree. The colors look dated and tend towards the pink range. The definition is a little more apparent, but it's still a rather soft picture. The transfer benefitted from the remastering in that it's relatively blemish free, it just doesn't compare with anything that's come out recently.

Score: 6 out of 10

Languages and Audio

The standard-def disc features a Dolby Surround 5.1 track, and it's a decent one. The dialogue sounds clear and well balanced, along with David Newman's memorable, ethereal score. English subtitles are available. The Blu-ray has a more robust Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, which is only a small improvement. Both the music and the dialogue are kept mostly in the front channels, with few really striking moments of directionality or thumping bass. The explosion of the school at the climax of the film -- an important moment, in terms of sound design -- has a little more power in HD, but it still lacks that dynamic punch you really want in the end.

Score: 6 out of 10

Extras and Packaging

The packaging is the biggest selling point of this three-disc set, although it's worth noting that this is the first time the standard and Blu-ray versions of the film have been bundled together (a digital copy would have been even sweeter). The discs come inside a 20-page hardcover yearbook featuring color pictures from the film, bios of the actors, signatures inside the front and back pages and other cool little tidbits. Also included in this set are 14 magnets with graphics and quotes from the film and a T-shirt that comes inside a cardboard replica of an Algebra II textbook. The "book" is cleverly designed, but once you take the T-shirt out, it basically becomes an empty box. Not really sure what that's good for. Finally, all of this comes neatly stuffed into a cute mini locker that still fits on an ordinary bookshelf.

Disc one includes the SD of the film with optional commentary by director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters. The rest of the bonus material has all been carried over from the 20th anniversary edition, most of which was already recycled from the 2001 edition. The full list includes:

Featurette: Return to Westerburg High

Featurette: Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads

Original Ending Screenplay Excerpt (DVD-ROM)

Theatrical Trailer

"Return to Westerburg High," produced for the 20th anniversary edition, is comprised of new interviews with Lehmann, Di Novi and Waters. The material here duplicates some of what they had to say in the 2001 "Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads" featurette, however. That one -- which also has interviews with Ryder, Slater and Doherty -- is the more informative of the two. Did you know that Jennifer Connolly was first considered for Veronica and Heather Graham had to drop out from a role as one of the Heathers because of her parents' objections? You'll hear those stories in both "Swatch Dogs" and "Return to Westerburg High." And if you want to hear about it again, listen to the commentary. Not that "Return" is totally worthless. There are some good new facts revealed, and most importantly, the topic of Columbine is tackled head by with Lehmann, Di Novi and Waters, who comment on how difficult it would be to make Heathers today. Lehmann points out that if the idea of a kid with a gun and a bomb seemed outrageous in 1989, what would you have to have him do today to seem over the top?

The Blu-ray version can be found on disc three, along with the same two featurettes as the bonus disc. There's also Fast Film Facts, which is a trivia track that offers up little behind-the-scenes facts about the production while the film is playing. No new bonus material here either.

Score: 7 out of 10

The Bottom Line

Okay, so maybe all the fancy packaging is just window dressing for a release that's a rehash of a rehash with no new content to speak of, but that doesn't mean it isn't "big fun." If you're a fan of the movie and don't already have it on DVD, then this is the set to get, whether you've made the upgrade to Blu-ray or not.